Colorado Wildfires Rage as Governor Suspends Controlled Burns

The Colorado wildfires that have killed at least two people and destroyed dozens of homes might not be fully contained until Monday, officials say.

About 500 firefighters fighting the blaze in the mountainous area 25 miles outside of Denver where the wildfires began Monday have managed to gain only 15 percent containment of an 8.5-miles-long fire, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said Wednesday.

The fire has swept over 4,500 acres and killed two people, identified Tuesday as Sam Lucas, 77, and Linda Lucas, 76. The husband and wife were found dead at their home, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s down there,” the boys’ father says while pointing to flames. “There it is, right here, right here.”

About 900 homes had been ordered to evacuate and as many as 6,500 homes were on standby orders for evacuation as of Wednesday, according to officials. The Gulick family managed to escape safely and so did their home, for now. Their home was still standing but not completely out of danger, they said.

While the origins of the fire remain officially under investigation, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper Wednesday took the preventative measure of suspending prescribed burns used to mitigate fire danger in the state. The Colorado State Forest Service said the blaze, which so far has taken 4,100 gallons of fire retardant and 49,000 gallons of water to try to contain, was likely started by a controlled burn it conducted last week.

“Through this suspension, we intend to make sure that we have the procedures and protocols in place so that prescribed fire conditions and management requirements are understood and strictly followed,” Hickenlooper said in a statement.

The fire’s rapid spread was fueled by high winds and dry conditions, officials said. The National Weather Service reports that the area had received only 0.06 inches of precipitation this March, compared with an average 0.82 inches.A search team of 32 people and six canines are also looking for a woman who lives in the fire zone and remains unaccounted for. Crews are searching the area and digging through the rubble of the woman’s burned-out house to look for her remains, according to KMGH.”We’re not certain,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said. “We’re looking beyond the home to determine if she ran from the fire. We’re also digging in the home rubble in an effort to find her remains.”The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Et tu Obama? Was U.S. Government behind attempt to sabotage Israel?

Leaks? Is the Obama administration using either leaks or black propaganda to sabotage Israel¿s defence against the threat of genocide?

Is the Obama administration using either leaks or black propaganda to sabotage Israel’s defence against the threat of genocide?

America’s former ambassador to the UN John Bolton certainly thinks so – and he is not a man given to rash speculation.

An article on the website of Foreign Policy magazine last Wednesday, written by former unofficial Yasser Arafat adviser and established Israel-basher Mark Perry, quoted four unnamed ‘senior diplomats’ and ‘intelligence officers’ saying that Israel had been granted access to air bases in Azerbaijan on Iran’s northern border.

The article suggested that this meant Israel planned to use Azerbaijan either for a strike at Iran or for other support for such an attack.

An Azeri official has subsequently said the claim that Azerbaijan has granted Israel access to its air bases for an attack is ‘absurd and groundless’. That denial, however, is clearly limited. And several observers have concluded that whether this is a genuine leak or disinformation, the story is an attempt to harm Israel by its principal western ally. Indeed, assuming it is not a total fabrication but is based on actual briefings, it is hard to conclude anything else.

On Fox News, Bolton said: ‘I think this leak today is part of the administration’s campaign against an Israeli attack.’ Bolton, a Fox News contributor, noted that a strike launched from Azerbaijan would be much easier for the Israelis than a strike launched from their own country – jets could stay over their targets longer and worry less about refueling. But he said tipping the Israelis’ hand by revealing ‘very sensitive, very important information’ could frustrate such a plan.

‘Clearly, this is an administration-orchestrated leak,’ Bolton told FoxNews.com. ‘This is not a rogue CIA guy saying I think I’ll leak this out. It’s just unprecedented to reveal this kind of information about one of your own allies.’

As Dan Margalit asks in the Israeli paper Israel Hayom: ‘What reasonable interest does someone in the Pentagon have in hardening the Iranian pharaoh’s heart on the eve of Passover, and indicating to him that he has nothing to fear? This borders on insanity.’

Sabotaging an ally’s defences in this manner goes much further than Obama’s previous known position in trying to stop an Israeli attack on Iran. This actively assists Iran, and thus potentially places the lives of millions at risk from that regime’s deranged belligerency. Is this what Obama meant when he tried to reassure American Jews recently that
‘…when the chips are down, I have Israel’s back’?

And since Iran does not merely threaten Israel but is already at war with America and the west it has pledged to destroy, is this not in fact a knife in the back of the west itself?

Article: A magazine quoted four unnamed ‘senior diplomats’ and ‘intelligence officers’ as saying that Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu had been granted access to air bases in Azerbaijan on Iran’s northern border